Summary

All Import Risk Assessment reports state that ‘Australia has general requirements for all fruit and vegetables, which require that consignments must be free of live insects, disease symptoms, trash, contaminant seeds and other debris on arrival in Australia’ (Australian Government, 2011). The live root-knot nematodes found in the consignments were identified by QDAFF staff as Meloidogyne arenaria, a species that has never been recorded on ginger in Australia, although it has been recorded on banana in Australia. Meloidogyne incognita and M. javanica are the root-knot nematode pests of ginger that have been recorded in Australia (Colbran, 1968; Stirling and Nikulin, 1998).

It is not known if the isolate of Meloidogyne arenaria detected in the ginger from Fiji is the same strain as previously recorded in Australia.

Program

Ginger

Research Organisation

The State of Queensland acting through the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries

Objective Summary

1) determine the pathogenicity of the Fijian strain of Meloidogyne arenaria compared to the Australian strain on ginger, and 2) determine an effective methyl bromide fumigation treatment that will safeguard the Australian ginger industry from the unwanted introduction of live plant-parasitic nematodes, such as Radopholus similis and Meloidogyne spp., on fresh ginger imports.